Hand discomfort in production assembly workers

¹Institute of Exercise Biology and Physiotherapy, University of Tartu, Jakobi 5,EE51014 Tartu, Estonia²Institute of Technology, Estonia University of Life Sciences, Kreutzwaldi 56,EE51014 Tartu, Estonia; *Correspondence: jansen@ut.ee

Abstract:

The purpose of this study was to evaluate subjective hand discomfort in femaleproduction assembly workers. Thirty-seven females, working as assembly workers, aged from22 to 54 years (with mean ± SE age of 36.4 ± 10.4 years) participated in this study. The mean(± SE) height, body mass and body mass index of the subjects were 166.8 ± 4.2 cm,61.04 ± 9.5 kg and 21.9 ± 3.7 kg (m2)-1, respectively and their general employment stage asmanufacturing worker was 7.35 ± 5.5 years. Thirty-five workers were right-handed. In thechosen factory was implemented the Lean manufacturing production together with a number ofergonomically designed work places. For the most part of the workday assembly workers sit ona chair or stand behind their working desk, driving screws into an aluminium plate with apneumatic screwdriver. Discomfort in six regions of the hand, both right and left, wassubjectively estimated by the Cornell Hand Discomfort Questionnaire. Total discomfort scorewas calculated. The results indicated that the female assembly workers felt work-relateddiscomfort the most in the right wrist (79.2%), left wrist (6.2%) and in the right thumb jointarea (3.6%). Discomfort was less pronounced in the left pinkie and ring fingers (0.01%), leftthumb (0.2%) and in the right thumb (0.7%). In conclusion, this study indicates significantfeeling of discomfort in the right wrist. In order to avoid the problems caused by overload it isadvisable to do special exercises during short brakes. According to the results further research isneeded on the relationship between hand discomfort and the effect of exercise.